The Geography of Jazz

A poetry collection by internationally acclaimed poet Lenard D. Moore focusing on jazz music as an experience and an inspiration. In The Geography of Jazz, Moore celebrates jazz music and jazz musicians. Some of the poems address specific events. Others honor individual artists. Many do both. While the poems may not initially signal the rhythms of jazz in their presentation on the page, they convey jazz rhythms through Moore’s deft handling of the poetic line and his use of formal techniques including but not limited to assonance, onomatopoeia, and repetition. This collection also includes a new poetic form, jazzku, an innovation that recalls Japanese haiku and tanka.

ISBN: 9781949467307

Lenard D. Moore is an internationally acclaimed poet and anthologist. Moore is the author of A Temple Looming, Desert Storm: A Brief History, Forever Home, and The Open Eye. He is the editor for All the Songs We Sing: Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Carolina African American Writers’ Collective and One Window’s Light: A Collection of Haiku. He is the founder and executive director of the Carolina African American Writers’ Collective. The executive chairman of the North Carolina Haiku Society, he was also the first African American president of the Haiku Society of America. His awards include the North Carolina Award for Literature and the Haiku Museum of Tokyo Award. An army veteran, he teaches African American literature and creative writing at the University of Mount Olive where he is the poet-in-residence.